Synchronicity by Michael E. Gonzales

I have been writing since before the turn of the century. My first manuscripts were saved on floppy disks (if you aren’t aware of 3.5-inch floppies, ask your parents).

I began writing after seeing a movie with my wife and commenting as we came out, “I believe I could have written a better story.”

She replied, “Yeah? Do it.”

After a time, wherein which I read a number of books on the art of writing, I came to enjoy the process. Exercising the mind, the imagination, even the research, editing, and rewriting.

As I look back to 2016, I marvel and my extreme good fortune to have been published.

Initially the thought of publishing my stories never even entered my mind. When my wife encouraged me to make the attempt, I did. Sending query letters to publishers throughout the US and several in the UK.

No one would have considered it possible that I would, through a pure act of synchronicity, find a publisher right here in Oklahoma City.

I cannot possibly explain the euphoria I felt when signing that first contract. Nor the incredulity of seeing my name on the cover of my first published book.

I’ll never know how many people have read my stories, but if one person truly enjoyed one of them then I am ecstatic. I am fortunate to have received reviews both on Amazon and via email from many happy readers. I know you are all aware what a great pleasure it is to receive these.

So, on this all hallows eve, I sit not with visions of vampires and monsters on my mind, rather I bask in the glow of my small success with my stories of…monsters and vampires. I dream yet of adventures in space, explorers on Mars,

great battles among the stars,

and of witches and warlocks battling for supremacy and falling in love for their troubles.

I have my wife to thank for pushing me. And Jef, Michelle, Jessica, Cheryl, and countless friends who cheered me on.

Before me there opens a dark passage with countless twists and turns. There are pitfalls too, but also stairwells that can lead one to the stars, and beyond.  

Into that yawning maw I will proceed. I trust that good fortune precedes me, luck accompanies me, and hope that Carl Jung was right!

Happy Halloween, everyone.

Mike

DNF

I've read several posts in various forums about how often other readers Do Not Finish, or DNF, a book. It has been quite an eye-opener for me. It takes a lot to make me add a book to my small DNF pile so it has been quite a surprise to find out how often - and how quickly - others do.

Many seem to decide within the first couple of pages if they are going to finish the book or not. I have to give it more time. Some books just get off to a slow start and I would have missed some really great reads if I'd given up in the first few pages. Other times, it takes me a while to get used to the author's voice and/or writing style before I can fully lose myself in their story.

Image courtesy of www.depositphotos.com

One of the last books I DNF'ed was a best-seller that even became a movie. I finally gave in and tried to read it and I just couldn't. For me, the whole tone of the book was very pretentious which annoyed the crap out of me. Even though I tried to finish, after a few chapters of rolling my eyes and yelling at the author I had to call it and move on to something else.

However, after only tossing the one book on my DNF pile over the last year, I've added two in the past two months. Whereas many will DNF a book based on a trope or something similar, I have now found the thing that is my DNF trigger: telling.

The discussion of "showing vs. telling" is a constant in the writing world. One of the most descriptive quotes is:

"Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass." Anton Chekhov

I never realized I had such strong feelings on the topic until the two books I didn't finish. Both of them were just constant telling which quickly set my teeth on edge. "They got up. They went for a walk on the beach. They went to a cafe. They had lunch." *screams* Why did they pick that cafe? Did the couple hear their song drifting through the open door? Did the smell of pizza draw them in? Show me what they are seeing, hearing, feeling - don't just tell me.

What makes you not finish a book?

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What's in a Name?

Oddly enough, in this post about titles, I'm only slightly modifying the name of a title from a few months ago, What's in a (Pen) Name? Why? I couldn't come up with anything better. Oh, the irony.

I seem to be a rarity among authors - I love coming up with titles for my stories. I like titles that are descriptive, have a sense of humor, and maybe even a play on words or a double meaning.

An author attempting to select the name for her next book baby. (Image courtesy of depositphoto.com)

The short stories in my Paws and Effect contemporary romance series all have animal-related titles; to date The Purrfect Partner, and It's Meow or Never, with Something Whiskered This Way Comes, and Purranormal Activity in the works.

My Kudzu Korners sweet paranormal romances have titles based old movies/tv shows:

Dial V for Vampire (published by Fire Star Press in August 2016)

Saved by the Belle (published by Fire Star Press in August 2017)

Dances with Werewolves (in progress)

Still to come in the series:

Gone with the Grin

Beauty and the Zombie

Accounting and Old Lace

All Dogs go to Haven 

So what's the problem? I've decided I don't like the planned title for the 4th book, Gone with the Grin. It's supposed to be a play on the classic book/movie Gone with the Wind but somehow it just isn't working for me as well as all of the others. I'm still a few months away from beginning the book but I'm already in a bit of a panic. As strange as it may sound, I like to have the title in place before I begin work on the story. The harder I try to come up with a new and improved title, the more it seems to elude me. I know my brain is working on this problem all the time so hopefully one day soon it will surprise me with the perfect alternative.

Naming my children was much harder than titling books. But, when my youngest son's arrival was imminent, I decided I didn't like the name we had picked out for him. He was "considerate" enough to be two weeks late which gave us time to come up with a better name. If I (we) pulled that out in the clinch surely I can do it again with a book title. Right? Wish me luck!

Oh, and Happy Fall y'all!

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FLEETING, by Mollie Hunt, Cat Writer

Artist, M. Boulanger unsigned

Spring has sprung. Here in Portland Oregon, the gardens are abundant with blossoms. Lilac, calendula, wisteria, snap dragons; even the roses have decided it’s close enough to June to show their pretty heads. The grass is green and growing like the weed it is. The foliage is fresh and new.

But as I ponder my back yard garden, I see brown creeping into the color. The lilacs are already fading; the hot-pink rhododendron poms are beginning to bleach. Azalea petals dangle from their filaments to fall and litter the ground. The hyacinths and daffodils that started this flower frenzy are relegated to memory.

Fleeting. So anticipated; so beautiful; so quickly gone.

Yes, I know there will be buds to come: lilies, zinnia, and of course more roses. There will be daisies in the fields and marigolds in the borders. Gladiolas will reach up bright, colorful stalks. Fuchsias will hang from baskets on porches where we can sit quietly, evading the summer heat.

Before we know it, chrysanthemums and dahlias will push their way through the drying soil. Reds and browns and golds, mimicking their season.

Which brings us to winter. All in the blink of an eye.

For me, writing is like the flowers of the seasons: the anticipation of the new story, so perfect and unique in my mind; the first draft giving way to a second and a third (and a fourth). The editing, the publishing… 

Where did that virgin story go? Is it still abloom somewhere in the finished product? (yes, I said “product”.) That seed from my imagination— will it be what people take away when they read the book?

Check out more blogs by Mollie Hunt, Cat Writer at:

Mollie Hunt: Crazy Cat Lady Mysteries and more

Happy reading!

I slept and dreamt - Michael E. Gonzales

I slept and dreamt I was in a spell, and fell into darkening well.

Or did I float and rise into that inky ether where the stars reside?

In a ship with billowing sails I rode

Past the Moon, and stars, beyond the wheel within which they strode.

A land unknown was shown to me, a land of beauty, but hard as stone.

Here great evil’s trumpet did resound, I ran until I fell to ground.

Flight or fight? I took my stand. Would I live or die? I could not tell.

The painful battle was a bloody hell, that pushed me to a darkening well.

Into the pit I fell, and fell, sure that I was soon to die.

At length I rose into a star filled sky.

Where a single dove was passing by.

Upon her wings of velvet snow, she led me to a land where naught but love did grow.

My hurts healed, by fever calmed, by lips as soft as the light of dawn.

From my dreaming I awoke, at the light of the accursed sun did I look.

Now, my tears stained the pages, as I closed my book.

--MG